Rebirth
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: it had been centuries since the last time their pharaoh had last been reborn. but now the time has come again. and it will be difficult for one mummy in particular since he is in danger of losing his heart to his new pharaoh, Lexie Carnovan. Ja-kal/fem presley. this is my first mummies story so be kind. R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**_Greetings ya'll! This is my first ever Mummies Alive story. And with Halloween just a few days away I thought it'd be fun (and appropriate) to finally publish one of my old stories. I mean this thing is so old that I wrote it in Jr. High._**

**_So sit back and enjoy the ride. It's going to be fun. _**

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The first time they saw their pharaoh's reincarnation was in June. When their sarcophagi were brought to the Museum of Natural History in the country of San Francisco. There were people everywhere, setting up display's to show off and protect the ancient artifacts that had been on the truck with them.

Their sarcophagi had just been moved to the middle of the room and set down when they had each decided to subtly shift the lids to create cracks for them to see through when their pharaoh walked by carrying an ancient vase with hieroglyphs painted on it.

They knew the young one was their pharaoh because they could see the light of his soul shining as brightly as the light of Ra. The sun god. God of light and creation. The boy placed the vase on it's red velvet covered pedestal and shifted from one angle to the next to check out how it looked. Finally giving them a good look at his face.

Their pharaoh was almost a man fully grown, though to them he still seemed like a child due to their ages. He was pleasing to the eye as well. Surely he must have many maidens trying to gain his favor. His skin was lightly tanned, his hair was slightly longer than they were used to seeing, hanging almost to the middle of his back in rich dark strands that looked as tempting as silk. His eyes were wide with jet black lashes that almost hid his unusual emerald green eyes.

"Lexie, how is that vase display coming?" A woman called out, causing their prince to turn his head. Angling it slightly in a manner that reminded one of them of a falcon he had once trained to hunt several thousand years ago. Long before his death.

"It's coming along fine." Their pharaoh replied.

Odd, his voice sounded strange. Like he was becoming ill. His voice had a low pitch that was almost husky. Airy. It made them concerned.

Was their prince getting sick? They wondered as someone went over to the boy and placed their hand on one of his shoulder's causing him to automatically jerk away with a snakelike hiss before snapping, "Don't touch me!" The one who had offended their prince looked at him in confusion and started to apologize, but Rapses merely waved the apology off and said in a gentler tone.

"Sorry Jim. I didn't mean to snap like that but I sort of got hurt there and well when you touched me it really hurt." The man nodded and said something in a low tone, apparently still trying to appease Rapses before offering to take over so that their prince could leave the museum.

Rapses said something that was difficult for them to hear then with a small and somewhat forced smile he then turned and bolted from the room looking like he was going to be sick.

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_I'm going to be sick! _Lexie thought as she ran down the hall with her hands covering her mouth as her stomach cramped and tears started to slip down her face as images of what she had seen flashed through her mind.

_"I'll get the ball uncle Jim." A seven year old boy with curly blond hair and big brown eyes said as he started to wade into the ocean waters. Jim smiled and waved at the boy as he got so far out and turned and waved at him. _

_Neither of them suspecting the danger lurking just off shore. _

_The boy swam out a little more. And a fin cut through the waves as Jim's attention was called away for a moment by his brother-in-law. They talked about the little boy's surprise birthday party which was being held later that afternoon. And the moment Jim broke off the conversation to check on his nephew... All he saw was reddish pinkish water and the ball that the boy had gone out to get. _

_"Mat?" Jim said as he searched the waters for a moment before realizing that something was wrong. He called out to his brother-in-law, Mat's father and quickly dove into the waters and headed for the spot he'd last seen Mat._

Lexie closed her eyes tight, trying to will away the onslaught of Jim's memories echoing in her brain. But they were so strong- they just kept going.

_Jim waded out of the water with what was left of his nephew, crying his heart out for the small broken body that had once been his flesh and blood. Mat's body had been bitten completely in half from the waist down. His insides had been ripped out, and eaten by one of the most terrifying monsters of the sea. His little face was twisted in fear and horror, his dull glassy brown eyes seemed to stare up at Jim accusingly. _

_As if to say, Why did you let this happen to me? Didn't you love me? _

_"Oh Mattie..." Jim said in a broken tone as his nephew's body was taken from him. "Of course I loved you." _

Finally the vision subsided and Lexie found herself in the women's restroom with her face just a few inches from the toilet seat. Her breathing was harsh, her heart was thudding frantically in her chest and she was still crying. Poor Jim.

And poor Mat too.

She hoped that damn shark rotted in hell for killing Jim's nephew.


	2. Chapter 2

Though they had seen their prince several times since then, they had only managed to leave their sarcophagi once or twice to see how the modern era had changed since the last time they had awoken. Finally after several months, the museum exhibit was finally done. Everything being restored had been restored by delicate hands and placed in the room where they lay awake, waiting, hoping, that Prince Rapses would appear sometime within the next few hours.

They had been fretting about his health ever since they had first seen him. And though they had wanted nothing more than to throw their sarcophagi open and go after him...they had been far too weak at that time to do so.

Hopefully whatever had ailed the boy would have left him by now.

Hopefully.

According to the sun dial on the wall, it was...uh... The one in the sarcophagi trimmed in pure god and vibrant blue hues shifted anxiously and peered out of the small opening at the gold and green sarcophagi next to him and wondered, _How does the sun dial work again? _

The one in the green sarcophagi shifted and peeked out at the sun dial and made a strange half moan half growling sound. How was he supposed to know how the blasted sun dial worked when there was no sunlight in the room! Honestly, why didn't someone else try to come up with the answers? He was getting tired of being asked.

Someone walked into the room that they recognized, it was the man that had upset their prince all those months ago. His name was Jim and he had a bad habit of talking to them when he thought they weren't listening. He seemed like a nice enough guy. He certainly worried about their prince. He had even been kind enough to keep them posted on how Rapses had been doing, though he didn't realize it.

And as such had become a valuable part of their information network that they had dubbed 'the messenger'.

Jim looked around the room before coming to stand before their sarcophagi and sighed tiredly before saying to himself, "I wonder if Lexie is going to show up tonight? The kid isn't very social thanks to-" He paused and ran his fingers through his shoulder length black hair before saying, "Well I guess if I had trouble like Lexie does, I wouldn't feel terribly social either. The poor kid has wound up in the hospital several times because of-"

Jim might have said more if not for the fact that their prince stood a few feet inside the door behind him and cleared his throat. The man turned to look at him and flushed furiously at being caught speaking to the mummies as the museum curator's daughter quietly made her way over to his side and looked around the room. "Hn. Everyone did a better job than I imagined." She said absently.

She'd skipped school to come and see the mummies exhibit while it didn't have anyone checking it out since she didn't want to be here later tonight when her mom would open the place to the rich and famous to let them get the first look.

"Did you think it would be like your second grade play?" Jim asked teasingly.

"Something like that." Lexie said honestly. Even though she had imagined so much worse. Like priceless artifacts sprinkled with glitter and hanging from the ceiling fan kind of worse.

"You're mother would be appalled."

"It was my mom who put the idea in my head." Jim laughed at that, understanding all too well Lexie's nervousness as she continued to look around the room. From what he'd heard of her second grade play, her mother had accidentally stapled part of her fairy costume to her left shoulder then glued the flower wreath to her head.

So not only had she needed to go to the hospital after the play, but her head had been shaved too.

"Ya know, your mother isn't as absent minded as you think," Lexie made a noncommittal sound then both fell silent for several heartbeats before Jim sighed and said, "Well kiddo, I'm going to go home. So you have fun checking out the exhibit." Then started to put his hand on her shoulder, but stopped himself at the last moment when he recalled her 'gift' and dropped his hand.

"Later Lexie."

"Later Jim."

The second Jim left her alone in the mummy exhibit, Lexie instantly regretted being there alone. There was such an overwhelming sense of loss, pain, and betrayal in the room that all she wanted to do was curl up in the farthest corner and scream until she tasted blood. The four bodies laying in the sarcophagi before her had been mummified while still alive as punishment for failing their pharaoh.

She blinked several times as she saw each of them being held down by the pharaoh's guards and helping with the mummification process. She closed her eyes as her head started to ache and she suddenly became dizzy. Everything she was seeing was like something right out of a horror movie!

It was just so_ horrible_ that- that there was simply no words to describe it.

It was almost like how she had seen Jim's nephew get eaten by the shark. Only the feeling was multiplied by a hundred. Maybe more. Every cut was felt so keenly, every organ removed was an agony that they prayed would end. And though it had all ended thousands of years ago...

The impressions of their deaths had been etched into their very souls.

Falling to her knees before one of the sarcophagi, she tried to breathe as their memories flowed through her mind. She saw the three men each talking with a young boy. The Prince Rapses, she supposed. She learned that they were his guards and tutors. Teaching him to follow in his father's footsteps. But then something had happened.

The prince had been murdered. She could see the one who had killed him, still holding his broken body in his blood stained hands as he smugly looked down at the boy prince's guards. She could see and feel their sorrow, their anger at themselves, but most of all she felt their rage directed at the man holding the boy's corpse.

She could see them fight the mad man in an effort to retrieve the body of their beloved prince only to fail when the enemy tossed the boy's corpse. Causing it to land in a large area of swirling sand.

_A sinkhole? _She wondered as everything shifted and the four stood before their prince's father as the man stared down at an empty sarcophagi as he spoke, _"You may have failed to return my son's body to me, but I know that you did try. You did not fail him. I did. I never should have left..." _

_"Pharaoh, it isn't you're fault. With war looming on the horizon, you had to go." _

_The pharaoh turned and looked at the man who had spoken. He was a strikingly handsome man with sapphire blue eyes and long blue black hair that hung to the small of his back. _

_"Thank you Ja-Kal for those kind words on such a sorrowful day. I wish that I could be as kind, but you know that where my son is the four of you must follow so that you may serve him again." _

_The four looked down. They had known this would happen inevitably. Since the day that they had been chosen as the prince's guards. But they had always thought that Rapses would die of old age, or of other natural causes. They had never planned ahead for their families and were concerned about what would happen to them if they were forced to leave them behind. _

_The man named Ja-Kal fisted his hands at his sides and started to speak again. "Great pharaoh, I- My wife, she just had a child..." Will you please see that they do not starve when I am dead? Was the question he wished to ask, but he found he couldn't ask his pharaoh for favors. Not now when his son's lifeless body lay under the sands. _

_"I understand Ja-Kal-" The pharaoh said as he looked back at the small sarcophagi that had been made for his son and blinked back tears. Ja-Kal didn't have to say the words for him to understand how he felt. After all, what wouldn't any man do for his son? _


	3. Chapter 3

_Wow the third chapter- I'm excited! Aren't you?_

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The moment they saw their prince fall to his knees was the moment they almost leapt out of their sarcophagi, their concern was so great that it coiled like a snake in their gut. Making them anxious to reach their young pharaoh. The boy was doubled over using one hand to brace himself up while his other hand was at his throat. The long slender fingers almost wrapping around his neck as he struggled to breathe.

His long hair slipped over his slender shoulders like a curtain, hiding his face despite the fact that they all knew it had to be pale and bloodless thanks to this fit he seemed stuck in.

They took a moment or so to observe what happened next and were about to climb out of their sarcophagi and go to him when a man wearing an expensive suit entered the room and made a beeline right for Rapses.

_Finally, after thirty thousand years the prince had been reincarnated. _He thought as he approached the teen on the floor and paused just an inch or so from him to study the latest incarnation before he killed it and was just a bit startled to find that the ancient prince had been reborn as a teenage girl between the ages of sixteen and seventeen.

But wasn't surprising wasn't just the fact that Rapses soul now resided inside a teenage girl. No, what surprised him was when the girl leaned back and looked up at him. She was beautiful. Gorgeous even with her exotic lightly tanned skin, dark hair...and her eyes- All hail the ancient god's!

They were the most beautiful shade of green he had ever seen.

If he wasn't already planning to kill her and take the soul of Rapses, he just might have considered trying to become a family man and settling down with her. But then he would have her guards after him in ways that he could only imagine. And that wasn't good.

No, it would be far better to just kill her and take her soul.

_The evil one was near. _They could each feel his presence as tangibly as the wrappings of their bandages against their skin. Shifting in their sarcophagi, they each got ready to jump out and grab their pharaoh before the evil one could make his move.

Lexie finally regained her senses to find herself sitting back on her heels, her head tipped back so that she was looking up at the ceiling. Or at least she would have been if she hadn't found herself face to face with a tall man in his forties. _I don't like the looks of this guy. _She thought as she studied him.

He looked familiar. Almost as if she had seen him before.

_Come with me Prince Rapses. You're father is waiting for you... _

She shook her head as if to clear it as the predatory tone slithered through her head causing her head to throb painfully. Almost as if she had just been hit by something hard. She was pulled back into the vision for a moment and saw a man wearing purple placing his hand on a young boy's shoulder and smirking. A shiver of dread shot down her spine at that smirk.

It was just so- so _terror_ inspiring that it made her feel sick.

But that wasn't the absolute worse part of it. No, the worse part was when she came back to her senses and found herself staring at the spitting image of pure evil standing over her and she felt her heart pounding in fear as a name slithered through her mind.

_Scarab. _

_The dark one. _

_The evil one. _

_The murderer of hundreds of innocents._

What was a supposedly thirty thousand year old dead man doing standing next to her? Why was he alive? Breathing?

_It's magic, _She heard a child like voice say and blinked as the world seemed to stop for a moment.

_Magic? _She asked herself before growling and pushing the though ruthlessly aside and then countered, _There's no such thing. _Yay! Calm cool rationality 1. Idiocy, 0. And yet... Yet that man was still there. Staring at her in a really, really creepy/happy way.

Reminding her of Sweeny Todd, both the history of the man and the movie made to tell of him. Another shiver shot down her spine, this one more violent than the previous one. Causing her to start trembling as the man reached out and said in that sickly sweet voice of his, "Are you alright? Do you need help? Here take my hand."

She looked at his hand and got the mental image of a crocodile with it's mouth open, just waiting for her to place her hand in it so that it could snap it's jaws shut and was instantly reminded of what a guy on the Discovery channel had said. _Remember, what goes in the croc's mouth- stays in it's mouth. _

"Uh...thanks, but no thanks. I...don't like being touched." She said nervously.

The man had a mock hurt look on his face as he pulled his hand back slightly and said, "Oh? Forgive me. I didn't realize." His tone was practically oozing old world charm. But to her his tone was as offensive as the most lethal of poisons.

It made her mad that he thought she was so naive that she would fall for his act. "Tell me something _sir_, do I have the word 'moron' tattooed across my forehead?" She sneered at him as she slowly got to her feet while checking for any weapons that she could use to defend herself since she was certain that this man fully intended to harm her.

Scarab stared at her for a moment before his dark eyes flashed yellowish gold and he tilted his head slightly as if he were studying her. _She knows who I am. _But that was impossible. They hadn't ever met before, and she certainly couldn't know that she was the reincarnation of prince Rapses. Could she?

Could Rapses soul have somehow awakened and attempted to warn her of her impending fate?

"You know who I am." It wasn't a question. It was a statement he dared her to deny. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him then hissed.

_"Murderer." _

"Prince Rapses," Scarab said as he gave a little bow before standing up straight and saying, "I do believe I like this new incarnation of yours. I can't recall a time you ever looked so..._cute_."

Lexie gnashed her teeth and hissed at him like a cat before snarling in outrage, "You vile, manipulative, low down, scum sucking-"

"Nah-uh-" Scarab cut her off with a wave of his hand, freezing her vocal chords and effectively stopping her in mid rant. "Really Rapses, you should have learned better manners by now."

Lexie tried to speak, her mouth opening and closing several times before she decided to show what she thought of him using sign language. She finished her rant in a flurry of hand movements that were difficult for him to follow, but at the end, she got her point across by flipping him off. _My, my. _She had such uncharacteristicly aggressive behavior for a young woman.

A side effect of housing Rapses soul, he supposed.

The man stopped speaking and instead reached out and grabbed her by the front of her bulky sweater and lifted her up into the air, causing her eyes to widen in shock. Dear lord he was amazingly strong for such a frail looking guy. She opened her mouth to try screaming for help, but no sound came out..._again_. Making her wonder just what he had done to her.

All he had done was wave his hand.

_Brilliant. I have a murderer who also happens to be a Jedi dangling me in the air threateningly and I can't even scream for help. _Lexie thought, completely vexed by her current situation. She was so distracted by her thoughts that she missed the guy pulling a long jagged dagger made of solid gold from the inside of his blazer and raising it so that the light gleamed off of the blade, drawing her attention back to the man just in time to grab his wrist as he made to plunge the blade into her heart.

He growled and applied more pressure downward towards her chest as she held his arm in place and kicked with her legs. Her foot connecting with one of his knees, causing it to give out and send the two of them tumbling to the floor. Both struggling to get the upper hand on the other when she heard several loud crashing sounds followed by someone lifting the man off of her and throwing him across the room.

Feeling just a bit out of sorts, Lexie looked up to see who had saved her as someone else gently grasped her shoulders and pulled her back as another blade, this time a long silver one with a sharp and slightly curved blade appeared in front of her as a male voice said, "Stay close Rapses."

Oh dear god it was like she was at a super villain convention!

The crazies were just coming out of the woodworks now.

Looking at the figure in front of her, she noted the Egyptian attire the person was wearing. Including the strange half mask shaped like a falcon's face, the solid gold shoulder plates that had been made to look like wings. He held a bow in his hand and had a quiver of arrows slung over one shoulder. And his hands...were covered in armor like gloves with claw tips for the fingers.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Happy__ Halloween!_**

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Lexie blinked as shock, fear and perhaps a little bit of mortification set in. Partially numbing her mind as the guy in the falcon mask bared his teeth and snarled, "How dare you show your face here Scarab. How dare you come after our pharaoh!" Lexie shifted slightly and looked around the room as two more strange people appeared. One was a big bear of a man with a half mask that appeared to be a ram.

And the other person, a woman in her late teens to early twenties from what she could see of her- was wearing a cat half mask and had clawed gloves and a whip that almost made Lexie laugh hysterically. Oh wow, the crazies really had come out! And one of them was cat woman!

If not for the seriousness of the current situation (with the crazy elderly man trying to kill her) she might have thought that there was supposed to be a full moon out tonight. But since that wasn't the case, and this wasn't funny-

There was a loud crash followed by the nerve wrecking cry of someone who had been thrown into something heavy as the sound of shattering glass soon followed. The sounds of the fighting were so loud that Lexie actually jumped and pressed herself more firmly against the man behind her. Not caring if it was rather uncomfortable for herself to be so close to a stranger.

She'd rather be uncomfortable than dead anyways.

The noise only got worse from there as priceless artifacts were torn from their display cases and hurled (in between some very well thought out Egyption curses) at the man who was after her. Inwardly cringing at the malice quickly filling the room, she turned her head and pressed her face partially against an armor clad shoulder and closed her eyes and tried to block out the noise.

She must have been pulled into a trance like state or something because one minute all hell was breaking loose and the next she was being carried bridal style by someone outside. Her head was resting comfortably on the broad shoulder of a man as the guy carrying her finally stopped and dropped down into a kneeling position and slightly adjusted her position in his arms so that he could check on her.

Blinking to clear the fuzz from her head, she found herself staring up at the man wearing the falcon mask. His cobalt blue eyes were by far the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. And they told her so much about this man.

He was fierce, strong, loyal, brave, comapassionate... And he was concerned. For her? She wondered as he used a clawed hand to palm the back of her head, his fingers slipping through her thick brown hair as her eyes drifted shut for a moment before opening again to meet his worried gaze. "Oh Rapses, my prince, are you alright?" He asked softly as he ran his fingers through her hair again in a soothing manner.

She blinked at him, her expression slightly confused. Prince? Why was he calling her his prince? She wondered as she very gently put her hands against his chest and pushed, indicating that she wanted him to let her go.

The man got an almost panicked look on his face for a second, then blanked his expression as he reluctantly released her. It was only then that she noticed the others standing in various spots around them. All of their eyes locked on her. Geez, a person would think that they had never seen an semi unconscious psychic girl before.

Clearing her throat awkwardly to see if her voice was working again, she started to fidget with one of her shirt sleeves as the man stood up to his full height. A whopping six foot two if her calculations were anything to go by. 'I-I...uh, thanks for-"

One of the others there cut her off by gently stating, "You do not need to thank us, oh prince. We are happy to serve you once more."

"Huh," Lexie said without realizing it. She didn't understand what the other guy had meant by his words. Happy to serve her again? Did that mean that she knew them? Maybe from her childhood when she had lived with her father for a time? "I'm sorry, have we met before?"

The four strangers each smiled and nodded, seemingly happy. _Poor guys, they probably think I remember them. _She thought as the guy in green and gold armor with a snake mask stepped forward and placed his hand on her shoulder and asked, "Do you remember us, pharaoh?"

Taking a step back away from him, she stared at them all for a second. Her expression one of shock and denial. Oh no. _No, no, no, no, no_. A million times no. Never. Nuh-uh.

"I think you have me confused with someone else. I'm not a pharaoh."

"Yes you are. You are prince Rapses. The young pharaoh of Egypt."

"Ok, first of all- speaking calmly _despite_ my quickly building hysteria- my name is Lexie. Lexie Carnovan. I am a student and part time archaeologist. I have never at any time, been- nor want to be- a pharaoh. So you have the wrong person."

"No we do not-" The man with the blue eyes said before continuing, "You are Lexie Carnovan. Your birthday is March the thirteenth. You are seventeen years old and a student at the local high school. You're grade point average is excellent, but you're grades in math are deplorable. Which is why every year you have someone tutor you. You're favorite color is black. The same color that you wear most often. You're favorite foods vary too much to mention. You live alone in a...what was it called? Stu-di-o. Yes that was it, a studio apartment just half a mile from your mother's home-"

Lexie's jaw dropped in shock just before the outrage set it. _Mother-fucker._ Had these nut cases been stalking her? And if so, then how long had they been doing it?

_"How. Dare. You."_ She said in a furious tone causing the man to automatically stop speaking and take a step back. His eyes wide. His expression confused as the man in the ram mask reached up with one hand and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he muttered.

"Uh-oh, I know that look..."

"The prince isn't too happy with us huh."

"How dare you stalk me! Do you realize that by doing so you could be considered dangerous and thrown in jail if caught? What the hell were you four thinking?!"

"But my prince-"

"Shut up! How could you invade my privacy like that? Why would you be so cruel?"

The four looked startled. Cruel? They were being cruel by learning more about their prince and his new life in the modern era? But that couldn't be right. They had only gathered information about him so that they could better learn how to protect him from Scarab. They weren't trying to be harmful. But perhaps they had sort of overstepped the line a bit.

They had only learned those things before being sent to the city, when they had spent a brief time in Rapses father's care.

Bowing their heads in shame the one with the falcon mask said gently, "Forgive us my prince for...our lack of respect for your personal boundaries. But it was not our intention to offend. We only wish to protect you from the one who seeks to kill you."

Lexie stared at them for several heartbeats before realizing that two- yes, two of these people had touched her- and she hadn't suffered any visions from the contact. Curious about what the reasons for that might be she held her hand out to the one with the blue eyes and waited for him to take her hand so that she could read his intentions. The man looked at her, obviously puzzled about what she was doing as his eyes flickered to her face. Silently asking, _What do you want of me? _

"Well?" She said in an impatient tone before saying, "Give me your hand."

Feeling just a little bit hurt that his prince neither knew or acknowledged him as one of his protector's, Ja-Kal slipped his hand around the smaller one and held on to it knowing that this was a test of some kind and that failing it meant losing his prince forever... And waited to see if anything sparked some sort of recognition within his pharaoh.

They stood quietly for a moment when Ja-kal felt a small twinge in his head and recognized it as someone trying to pierce the veils within his mind. It was something that high priests, priestess's and sorcerers did when they wanted to gain control over someone. He could stop it easily by slamming up a mental block, but what if someone was doing the same to his prince? Would severing the physical connection between them save him? He took a moment to calculate the odds then made his decision and quickly slammed up the mental block to protect himself. Not knowing that by doing so he would hurt Lexie.


	5. Chapter 5

The moment Lexie felt the mental wall go up she let out a pained scream and jerked her hand from the man's grasp as she saw little slivers of his life and lives of those around him. His name was Ja-Kal, guardian of the boy prince and future pharaoh of Egypt- Rapses. And the people with him were his friends and comrades. Rath, Armon, and Nefer-tina.

These people were familiar to her. She didn't know how but...

Some part of her recognized this while some other part of herself was deeply in denial. Mostly because she could see them being killed in her mind and the memories of what they had suffered filled her with horror. Total, mind numbing, pants pissing- horror. The pain in her head gradually dulled after a few moments and she found herself in the arms of...Armon? No wait, this guy was shorter and had a body that was lean and wiry muscled. Rath?

Yes, it was Rath. She could at least partially remember that much as she looked into worried grey/green eyes.

"My prince, are you hurt?" He asked as the shrubs and bushes off to the side shook violently and Armon appeared and walked over to them, brushing the leaves and twigs from his broad shoulders as he moved.

"If there is a sorcerer nearby, he is hidden well. I didn't see anyone." He said as he knelt down next to Rath. The expression on his face was uncharacteristically serious for the fun loving man.

Lexie tried to turn her head when she realized that she didn't see Ja-Kal and Nefer-tina, and gasped in pain at even the slightest movement of her head as something wet slowly trickled out of one of her nostrils. _Ew_. Was her nose running? She wondered as she lifted a hand and touched shaking fingers to the wetness on her face and looked at it.

_Oh_. It wasn't snot. It was blood.

Her nose was bleeding. Possibly from all of the stress her body had been under today. And it must have been quite a bit of blood too if Rath was upset enough to shift her position in his grasp and unwind some of the bandages covering his forearm and quickly pressed them against her face in an effort to stop the bleeding. She made a small noise of discomfort and felt Armon's large hand on her leg and let her eyes flicker to his face for a moment as she tried to think.

She knew these guys. And yet she didn't.

She knew their names, their ranks, the year of each of their births- And yet she didn't.

They called her prince Rapses and pharaoh, and yeah a part of her even recognized herself as such. But then as before, some part of her didn't. If not for the throbbing in her head and the nose bleed and frustration she felt at the moment, she would have ripped some of her hair out and screamed like a lunatic. "Where are-" She started to ask when Nefer-tina and Ja-Kal were when one dropped out of a tree and the other dropped out of the sky.

"Well, did you find anything?" Rath asked anxiously as he pulled the bandages away from her nose to check on the blood and see if it had stopped. It hadn't. But at least there wasn't so much of it now. Nefer-tina shook her head no as Ja-Kal said,

"I didn't see anything., How is Rapses?"

"He's weak from the sorcerer's attack, Ja-Kal. What did you expect?" Rath snapped as he carefully wiped as much of the blood on her face, away, and then cooped her up and stood. Ja-Kal winced slightly at Rath's tone, but said nothing. To be honest he had been hoping that Rapses wasn't terribly injured.

But since he was... "We should take out prince home so that he may rest." He said after a moment of awkward silence.

"To the studio apartment?" Armon asked. Ja-Kal nodded his head curtly.

"But- We don't know where it is!" Nefer-tina pointed out in protest. Ja-Kal sighed tiredly and looked a Rath, wondering if he could perhaps cast a 'finding' spell so that they could find the home of their prince. He didn't bother telling them that he had been anxious to see Rapses home for a while now. He wanted to know what sort of life his prince had in this era.

"Rath, could you cast a small spell to guide us to Rapses home?"

Rath gave Ja-Kal a dark look before saying, "Of course I can. But the better question you should ask is, will I?"

"You will if you don't want me to punch you." Ja-Kal said in an irritated tone. His every thought now mainly centered around seeing that his prince get home and get the rest he so needed. He'd have time to investigate Rapses home later on. When the boy was well enough to better stand his scrutiny.

Rath gave Ja-Kal a look that said, _don't-piss-me-off-or-I'll-turn-you-into-a-locust_, then sighed. Leave it to Ja-Kal to loosen the reigns on his temper when he should be trying to think of another way to help since there was no guarantee that a 'finding' spell would help them. "A spell won't help us this time, Ja-Kal." Rath reasoned as he shifted his hold on Lexie. "Especially since our prince has two homes."

"But only one of them is the studio." Ja-Kal said before noting that his prince seemed to be unconscious again and felt himself begin to panic a bit.

"That may be true, but there may also be the possibility that other people live in studio's as well. And if that is the case, then there may be hundreds or even thousands in the city. And if that is the case, we would never find Rapses home."

Ja-Kal thought for a moment then sighed. Damn Rath for being such a know it all. Why did he have to point out the flaw in the one plan that they had sort of had. Their prince was getting weaker and weaker by the second! "Then what are we supposed to do? We can't go back to the museum. We can't stay outdoors- our prince may become more ill."

"Perhaps we could stay here until our prince awakens and have him lead us to his home?" Armon suggested.

"That's assuming that he'll wake soon, of course."

Rath was about to say something else when Lexie moaned softly and started to stir, cutting off his train of thought for the moment before he muttered to himself. "Well...this is convenient." As Lexie's eyes fluttered open and she wrapped her arms around herself.

She felt like crap.

"My prince," Ja-Kal said as he moved in closer to see his prince better and try to gauge how bad off the boy really was. Lexie looked at him through pain glazed eyes as a little bit more blood trickled out of his nose. His breathing was slightly labored and his complexion was paler than it had been before. Ripping off some of his bandages, he reached out with both hands and while using one to hold the boy's head- he gently wiped away the fresh blood and asked, "Are you alright?"

Lexie swallowed as she tried to think of what he had just asked her before giving the most obvious reply, and if she just happened to make an idiot out of herself- well whatever. She doubted that she'd really recall what she said to any of them by tomorrow anyways. "I'm fine..." She said as she frowned for a moment, her mind temporarily going blank on her before she finally managed to say, "I-I know you. I shouldn't but I know all of you."

Ja-Kal looked at Lexie just slightly surprised. Was his prince finally starting to remember them? He wondered as Rath spoke up, "Yes, you know us. Though not from this era- Now, are you well enough to show us where you live? You are in desperate need of rest and we must see you home safely."

"Yeah, okay. Where are we exactly?"

"Hidden in the trees across the street from the museum."

"North? South?"

"A bit to the west."

"Then follow the road south for about a quarter mile. I-I'm getting tired again." Lexie said, sounding slightly alarmed. This usually didn't happen to her! She usually wasn't so exhausted after having her visions. But then her visions weren't normally as stressful as they had been today. And not quite so many in number either.

"Of course my prince, rest and we will wake you in a little while." Lexie's eyes drifted closed again as Ja-Kal looked at the others and motioned with his head for them to follow him. He was the best tracker in the bunch so he_ should_ be able to find his prince's home easily enough unless he got turned around.


	6. Chapter 6

The wonders of the new era they had awoken in were...well, _magnificent_. There were tall buildings made of glass and stone that were so tall and so great that they rivaled the ancient pyramids. There had been horseless chariots, people dressed in very colorful and strange clothes, markets that stayed open all day and night where goods could been bought...

It amazed them just how much this new era differed from their own. And at the same time it astonished them how similar it was as well. The ingenuity of the people in the modern era was something to truly be admired. Ja-Kal thought as he and the others examined their prince's home carefully. It had taken them almost an hour to find the boy's home thanks to the fact that they hadn't been able to wake him from his sleep.

Apparently the sorcerer's attack had taken more out of him than they had thought. But thanks to the help of one of the prince's friends, someone that had seen them wondering around while on her way out of the local market, they had not only found the prince's home- but had managed to get inside and with her help, put Rapses to bed for the night then left for home.

Leaving them alone in the studio to explore.

The prince's home was nothing like what they had expected. The home was two stories and held close to nine rooms total (hardly the place that a young prince would desire to live in), the upstairs held the prince's main bedchamber along with an entertainment chamber. The lower floor of the home contained fabrics ranging from the most expensive of linens and silks to other's that had never been seen much less heard of before. Each one was rolled on a bolt, labels and stored carefully in one corner of the room with some sewing gear.

Across from that was a desk, a small furnace and clear looking containers on a small shelf. Each container holding something akin to jewelry making supplies like glass beads, stones and metals.

But no matter where they went in the house, there were also priceless artifacts from different countries ranging from Egypt to Rome.

There was pottery, ancient weapons, gem incrusted ceremonial pieces, diamond, pearl, emerald, ruby and sapphire embedded jewelry that were fit for royalty- There were pieces of armor, tome's and scrolls. There was even a medium sized old wooden box with copper on it and inside was a stack of gold and silver bars and coins with semi precious stones some of which were the size of the palms of their hands.

And to top everything off there was a stunningly crafted carved ivory blade!

All of them were placed in an area where they could be easily admired by their prince. All of them were part of an amazing collection that showed them that their prince had a real eye for treasure as well as a fundamental grasp of ancient history.

"I can't believe he has all of these things." Rath said in awe as he took one of the gems from the wooden box and carefully examined it.

It was a deep lovely green colored jade. Calculating the gem's worth times it's age and nearly flopped over in a dead faint when he realized that all their prince had to do was sell even _one_ item in his collection and he could buy himself a modern day palace and move out of the little hovel he was currently in.

"Such amazing treasures." Nefer-tina breathed as she admired what looked like a crown with pearls and diamonds and rubies in it.

"HEY!" Armon called out from another room causing the other three to turn and hiss like a bunch of cats.

"Be silent!" Rath bit out from between clenched teeth.

"Quiet!"

"Or prince is sleeping!"

"Oh sorry," Armon said looking contrite for yelling. "I just wanted to say that our prince has an amazing kitchen." The three sighed. Each of them a little exasperated. Was food the only thing Armon ever thought about?

"Stay out of there and don't touch anything," Ja-Kal said as he moved to peer into his prince's room so that he could check and make sure that Armons shout hadn't woken the boy , and after seeing him curled up on his side sound asleep, he said. "That is our prince's food and none of it shall be touched without his permission."

"Aw, but I'm hungry." Armon said.

"You're always hungry." Rath said dismissively as he picked up a scroll and gently unrolled it to see what was in it. It was written in a language that he didn't know or understand.

Moving back to the room with the others Ja-Kal began to study the area again, taking note of the furniture (chairs, tables, lamps, and the shelves with countless books) and chuckled softly to himself. His prince was still as curious about the world as he had been thirty thousand years ago it seemed. Slipping one of the books from one of the shelves, he ran his finger tips along the glossy cover and tried to read the title.

It took several tries but he finally got the hang of the pronunciation of the book title. Kama-sutra? I wonder what knowledge this book holds. He thought as he flipped the book open and automatically froze when he found himself staring wide eyed at a picture of a naked man and woman in a very...er- _awkward_ position. Flushing slightly from embarrassment, he closed the book and was about to put it back when it occurred to him that the book should be destroyed instead.

"Hey," He said, trying to get someone else's attention. His three companions all stopped and dropped what they were checking out and walked over to him as he held the book out and said, "We need to destroy this book."

Rath took it from him as he started to ask why and flipped the book open, stared blankly at the pages then quietly closed it again and coughed then said, "Yes, we should definitely burn this book." In his opinion the prince was still much too young to have knowledge of such things.


	7. Chapter 7

**_Wow seven chapters and only two reviews. _**

**_I understand that Mummies Alive is a bit outdated and maybe not as popular as it once was, but this is still a little bit discouraging._**

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Lexie woke up laying face down on her bed with her hair tangled around her face. Shifting slightly on the bed, she pushed herself up into a sitting position and lifted a hand to shove her hair out of her face, and then looked down at herself and noticed that she was still wearing her sweater and jeans from yesterday. What the hell? Why was she still wearing her dirty clothes?

And how the fuck had she gotten home? She didn't remember anything but the occasional flash of insight. Reminding her that something huge and life altering had happened.

Sighing tiredly she looked at the clock on her bedside table and saw that it was well after noon. It was a good thing it was a long weekend or she would have some serious explaining to do to her teachers at school.

Quietly climbing out of bed, she moved over to her dresser and grabbed some clean panties, a bra, and a shirt and shorts and then shuffled into the bathroom and set everything on the counter then grabbed a towel from the small closet in the corner next to the sink and hung it on a hook.

Once that was done she turned on the water so that it could warm up and took her time undressing because for some reason her whole body ached to the point where she wondered if someone had beat her with a stick or something when she'd been asleep. Of course she knew that was an absurd thought. Most people in the area wouldn't dare unless they wanted her to kill them in their sleep anyways.

Stepping under the spray, she let the warmth of the water seep into her aching body as she examined her arms and legs and found...nothing. Hn, interesting. There were no bruises. No scratches or cuts. Nothing at all to indicate that anything had happened to her the night before, yet she knew that something had.

She washed herself quickly, taking just enough time not to miss anything then washed and rinsed her hair and got out and shut off the water as she grasped the towel and wrapped it around herself. Putting the lid down on the toilet, she sat down for a second and stared blankly at the mirror over the sink as she wondered if she had any soda or milk left in the fridge.

She was suddenly feeling kind of thirsty. Getting up she left the bathroom and quietly padded through her house, completely missing the four figures sitting in her living room, following her with their eyes as she went into the kitchen and stifled a yawn with one hand while opening the fridge with her other and pulled out a small can of soda and set it on the kitchen counter for a second then closed the fridge door.

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They had been up all night debating on how best to destroy the book titled 'Kama-sutra'. Pausing only for a moment or two from time to time to go check on their prince before switching their debate from destroying the book to covering their tracks once it was done. After all, they didn't want their prince mad at them again. Certainly not over something as silly as the knowledge held inside the book.

They were still debating on how to hide the book's imminent destruction when Nefer-tina glanced up from looking at the book and saw their prince walk by dripping wet and wrapped in a fluffy blue colored piece of fabric. Reaching out and tapped Rath and Armon on the shoulders and pointed in the direction that Rapses had gone just as they heard a strange sound coming from what Armon had learned the night before was the kitchen area.

Curious to see what their prince was doing, the four got up and after Rath tucked the book they were going to destroy inside of his bandages, went to greet Rapses. They moved quietly as a group down the short narrow hall leading to the other room and peeked into the kitchen to see their prince standing with his back to them, his long dark hair soaked, little rivulets of water running down his slender shoulders and back.

At first glance everything seemed normal enough, or it did until Nefer-tina gasped softly then quickly shoved Ja-Kal, Rath and Armon back into the hall with such force that she knocked them all down and then blocked the doorway into the kitchen as their prince seemed to finally notice their presence and turned a moment before he let out a loud scream.

"My prince!" Ja-Kal called out as he managed to untangle himself from Armon and Rath and get back to his feet again. Something was wrong! Something was really, really wrong with his prince! He thought in a panic as he tried to shove Nefer-tina aside so that he could go to Rapses. Nefer-tina grunted as one of her shoulder's hit the wall painfully and made a grab for Ja-Kal before he could get away from her knowing that he may not handle her discovery about their prince very well.

"Ja-Kal no!" Nefer-tina shouted as she grasped his arm only to have him shake free and throw her into the others while he was at it. But that was Ja-Kal for you. Out of the four of them he was perhaps the most passionately devoted to their prince. Probably because he had helped raise him when he was a small child thirty thousand years ago, back in Egypt.

Before everything had gone wrong and their prince had been murdered by Scarab.

Ja-Kal didn't even spare them a glance as he went into the kitchen and upon seeing nothing of his prince took a moment to take note of the most obvious hiding spots in the cozy little area and walked around one, a table that reached his waist in height, and peered over the top at the huddled form of his prince. Frowning a bit in confusion as to why his prince would be huddled on the floor, hiding.

"My prince?" He said softly as he knelt down next to the boy who turned his head just enough to look at him before squeaking and quickly looking away and started to talk rather fast. Almost too fast for him to follow.

"Crap!"Lexie muttered to herself as panic started to set in. She wasn't used to having people in her home without her knowledge and as much as she wanted to call the cops and have the four arrested she knew that thirty thousand year old mummies could wreak havoc on the world around them if kept in confinement by a society they had no understanding of.

She saw the movies. She knew what could happen as she continued to babble. "You're real which means the others are real, some psycho tried to actually kill me at the museum and- and..._just what are you doing in my home?!"_ The last part came out as almost a hysterical wail causing Ja-Kal's lips to twitch slightly in amusement. He had sort of expected this of his prince, especially after what had happened yesterday.

His prince had been so exhausted physically and mentally that it wasn't all that shocking that he had forgotten some things.

"Do you remember who I am, my prince?" He asked curiously as he propped his arm up on one of his legs and stared at the boy, just happy to be in his presence again. Completely missing the way the boy was looking at him.

Or more accurately, the wrap around skirt he wore.

_Oh dear god- _Lexie thought as she flushed a vivid pink at what she was looking at. She had a clear view of- of Ja-Kal's lower... She blushed even more as she tried not to think about the fact that he was more or less naked under the skirt. "Uh...y-you're-" He tilted his head slightly, the characteristic appearing a little more animalistic than human as he made a humming sound. "I-I can see you're..." He blinked at her and her mind blanked before she could go any further. So instead she just ducked her head and pointed a bit hoping that he would catch on.

He didn't. If anything he just seemed to think that she wanted him to take her hand in his and shifted so that he was sitting on the floor next to her, his larger body dwarfing her own as she felt him use one of his fingertips to play with her index finger's nail. "Okay... You're obviously feeling very affectionate at the moment, but I'm kind of naked and feeling a bit uncomfortable- so I'd like to go get dressed now." Lexie said awkwardly as she gently pulled her hand free of his grasp and slowly stood up.

His eyes followed her movements as she stood, then he stood up as well and towered over her. His blue eyes never once blinking, causing Lexie to shiver. Such a ruthless and calculating stare. Had Ja-Kal always been this way or was it something that had just sort of developed over the past thirty thousand years?

She wondered as she slowly- _very_ slowly, as if she were being eyed by a tiger about ready to pounce- moved towards the door leading to the hallway and nearly jumped out of her skin and scurried back to her bedroom when he took a step in her direction and made like he was going to follow her. Moving quickly, she took off down the hall, passing the other three (who in her opinion were just as unnerving as Ja-Kal) and ran into her room and slammed the door shut and for once in her pitiful life wished that she had a damn lock on the frigging door.

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Nefer-tina had been wringing her hands and trying to think on how to break the news to Rath and Armon that their precious prince Rapses had been reincarnated as a female..._again_. Which in itself wasn't necessarily bad. But it wasn't exactly good either considering how fragile females were compared to males.

In fact their prince had been reincarnated as a female several times over the past thirty thousand years.

However every time that had happened, the child containing Rapses soul had died early. Most of them hadn't made it past infancy. Which was why learning that Rapses was a girl- and a young adult- was more than_ shocking_. It was just a bit exciting and appalling at the same time. Well, to her it was anyways. She was fairly sure that the others would be nothing but appalled since it would mean they had to deal with a young adolescent.

A young adolescent female. One who probably had many suitors. Suitors that Armon, Rath and Ja-Kal would take great sadistic pleasure in killing.

Ja-Kal rejoined them in the hallway scratching his cheek after their prince- er- princess? Queen?- had run right by them looking practically frantic to get away. Just what had Ja-Kal done to her anyways? Nefer-tina wondered as their leader asked, "What are you three doing standing here?"

"Nefer-tina has something to tell us, but she seems to be lacking for words." Rath said in a bored tone as Ja-Kal glanced at the woman in the small group who had also been charged to be the young prince Rapses guard. His blue eyes questioning as she laughed nervously and took a small step back away from the three men.

"What is it Nefer-tina?" Armon asked as he cocked his head to the side and stared at her.

"I-It's uh- There's this thing and-" Nefer-tina stammered as Lexie's bedroom door opened and she stepped out wearing a long sleeved blue and green shirt and a pair of shorts. Her shirt was tucked into her shorts, showing off the generous curves of her body as she gathered her hair up off of her nape and twisted it then took the hair clip she'd put in her mouth as she left her bedroom, out and used it to clip her hair into place. "Oh, never mind." Nefer-tina said as she caught sight of Lexie at the same exact moment Rath, Armon and Ja-Kal did and quickly covered her ears to block out the sounds of their surprised shouting.

All of which were so loud that Lexie almost turned around and went back to her room to wait them out like a bad storm.


	8. Chapter 8

Lexie sat in the living room with her cheek in her hand and her legs crossed, next to her seat, on the floor sat Nefer-tina. The both of them were watching the three males pacing back and forth in front of them, each one stuck in his own particular..._meltdown? _Was meltdown even the right word for this? She wondered as the three almost tripped over each other while muttering to themselves, "This cannot be!"

"Every time our prince was reincarnated, he was a male! What's changed? How did this happen?!"

"There must have been a shift in power somewhere-"

"Why?!"

"My poor prince!"

"But why would the power shift cause this?"

"Why?"

Sighing Lexie leaned forward in her seat and gnashed her teeth as she clapped her hands twice in a very rude and obnoxious way. Causing all three men to stop their pacing and turn to face her out of reflex. "That's better. You guys were being so loud that I couldn't think." She said as she flopped back in her seat looking tired. The three looked at her and opened their mouths to apologize- They hadn't meant to almost drive their prince- er..._princess_- they all inwardly cringed at the word- to distraction.

"Forgive us, my..uh... I-I don't know what to call you now." Ja-Kal said lamely as he stared down at her.

Now that he could really see Lexie up close (and not just her face) he supposed that he should have noticed how feminine she was. Or at least he would have if she hadn't been dressed the previous night in such bulky clothes that made it difficult to see her body very clearly. But now that he could see her better, the incident earlier in the kitchen should have been a dead give away to her gender.

_I wonder why I didn't notice? _He wondered as Lexie opened her eyes and looked at him before saying, "How about you call me Lexie."

Ja-Kal opened his mouth to say that he couldn't use her name, it simply wasn't fitting of her station as his pharaoh but instead found himself smiling. If being called by her name would make his pharaoh happy, then he would obey as Rath finally managed to pull himself together enough to ask, "I suppose that you have questions, my lady?"

"Nope."

"Really?" Armon asked in amazement. Apparently he was done with trying to shout down her house now and was giving her nothing but his undivided attention. "None what so ever?"

"Nope. I know who you are. What happened thirty thousand years ago. Who the guy that tried to kill me last night, was. Why you're here..." Lexie said as she ticked what she was saying off on her fingers while she spoke then suddenly fell silent.

"Then you know who you are as well?" Nefer-tina asked as she reached out and grasped Lexie's hand in her own. Lexie was quiet for a moment then shook her head 'no' before saying,

"Unfortunately what I know about myself and my future involvement with all of you is hidden from me. So no, sorry." The mummies all hung their heads, using the form of expression to let Lexie know how vexed they were about the whole situation. No one said anything for several heartbeats before Rath cleared his throat and said,

"Well, since that is the case... Perhaps we should fill you in."

Lexie made a humming sound and propped herself up again, this time drawing her legs up into her chair so that her knees were touching her chest and her chin was resting on one of her knees. "Please by all means. Talk."

Rath opened his mouth to tell her that she was the reincarnation of their prince, but for some reason the longer he had her stare at him, the more his brain seemed to shut down until finally he turned to Armon and held his hand up knowing that the other man would mirror his movement. And when he did Rath slapped his palm and said, "Tag! You're it!" Then fled from the room leaving a confused Armon and an _very_ appalled Ja-Kal to try and explain things to Lexie.

"Uh..."

"Well it's like this-"

"You're our-" They both looked at each other, their expressions uncomfortable.

"I'm assuming that the reason you call me pharaoh, and prince has something to do with you're possible explanation." It wasn't a question. It was a statement. One that both Armon and Ja-Kal couldn't disagree with. Especially since that pretty much summed up their explanation in a nut shell. So they both nodded their heads and waited for her to react. And when she finally did, her reaction wasn't what they had expected it to be.

Instead of freaking out on them she just stared at them for a moment then made a soft huffing sound and slowly got up out of her chair and said, "Well... Okay then. Nuff said."

"T-That's all you have to say?" Ja-Kal said nervously. Unsure of weather he should be feeling wary or not.

"Pretty much." Lexie replied as she walked by him, heading back towards the kitchen, hoping to grab another soda and something to eat when it occurred to her that her 'guests' were probably hungry and thirsty too. _Maybe I should ask them if they want anything. _She had enough left overs and frozen goods to last a month or more as long as she didn't try cooking any gourmet five course meals any time soon.

Pausing in the hallway, to call out and ask them if they wanted food or drinks, she was almost mowed down by Ja-Kal when he didn't manage to stop following her in time. Upon seeing her staged his arms shot out automatically and wrapped around her slender body, pulling her back up against his front to steady her before he let her go and muttered an apology in her ear.

"Sorry."

"S'okay, I should have expected you to follow me." Lexie said as she tried to suppress the urge to twitch. His breath against her ear tickled! Lexie thought as she bit her lower lip to keep from squeaking as he released her yet stayed close enough to grab her just in case she tripped or lost her footing. "Um, are you or any of the others hungry? Or thirsty?"

Ja-Kal was silent as he processed her question then smiled, his eyes lighting up like Christmas tree lights. "We would be honored to eat at you're table princess."

"Okay. Go get the others and I'll get started on cooking the food."

"You cook?"

"Of course I do. I live alone. Cooking is one of the main skills essential to survival. Well, that and being able to call for take-out."

"And you wish to cook for us?" Ja-Kal asked, his tone one of disbelief. Rapses had never cooked a day in his life thirty thousand years ago and now here was his incarnation...offering to do just that. He wasn't sure if he should be pleased by the offer or horrified. Didn't most royalty have people to wait on them instead of the other way around? He wondered as he turned and nodded then quietly went back the way he had come to get the others.


	9. Chapter 9

The four mummies sat in a room off to the side of the kitchen, seated at a table set with glasses and plates, watching in fascination as Lexie fixed their food. Seeming to just flutter from place to place like a butterfly. Preparing their meal with such care that it humbled them as mere servants protecting their pharaoh. It took a little bit, but by the time she was done, the whole table was covered by a variety of delectable looking dishes ranging from cooked fowl, vegetables, small loaves of bread with honey drizzled over them, fruits, something called 'sandwhiches', cooked eggs, and several dishes that they didn't recognize.

But must be as delicious as they smelled.

They piled their plates high with as much food as they could without disgusting Lexie, then started eating. Taking great care to use what table manners they possessed, but after thirty thousand years without food or water- they were starving. In more ways than one since their bodies were partially kept alive by ancient magic and enchantments that kept them looking as alive as they had been the day of their mummification.

The spells even helped them generate body heat, think, learn, and helped them maintain freewill against dangerous spells that could cause them to attack their-er, _princess_.

Lexie was still in the kitchen, grabbing several things out of the great silver coffin where she stored food and came back to the table carrying a clear jar of water, and two more with strange colored liquids in them. One with orange. And the other with a deep golden yellow. She put the jars down on the table, causing them all to pause their eating to see what she was doing and were slightly surprised when she picked up one of the glasses that had been sitting empty and poured some water into it then set it back down into place on the table and picked up another.

Repeating the process until all of their glasses were full before she bothered to sit down at the far end of the table and propped herself up and watched them for several minutes before Ja-Kal stopped eating and asked, "Princess, aren't you going to eat anything?"

"Depends. Am I going to lose an arm if I reach for something?" Lexie asked as she eyed the disaster zone that they had more or less made of her dining room table. Nefer-tina coughed and turned her head as she covered her mouth to smother the giggles threatening to escape her as Ja-Kal's lips twitched, and he reached out and picked up several of the loaves of bread and stood up. And walked over to her end of the table and placed them on the empty plate in front of her.

Then grabbed the dish with the fowl in it and placed a few pieces on her plate then grabbed something else and after sniffing it (because it smelled oddly and he didn't want to accidentally poison her) and had her take the dish from him, and put some on her plate then set it back down. He glanced at her, looking as if he were about to protest that particular food being consumed when she picked up something from the table and used it to take a bite before he could stop her.

He narrowed his eyes at her as she ate several more bites of the questionable dish then looked at him and motioned for him to go back to his seat and eat some more. She could live without the food for a few days. He and the other's however had gone without for far too long and needed the food more than she did at the moment. Besides, her stomach was feeling a bit off from the night before so she'd probably end up just eating a few bites of the bread rolls she'd made then wait for her stomach to settle.

It just might take a day or two for it to happen.

In the meantime she could get the four settled, maybe clean out a few of her rooms and redo them so that they all had their own personal space, and place to rest. Picking up a bread roll while Ja-al returned to his seat, she tore off a small piece of bread and popped it in her mouth as she made a mental note to go out later to restock on groceries and buy them clothes so that they would fit in better, and maybe hit a furniture store or two and buy them some new furniture.

It could take her a day or two, or possibly three (depending on what happened next) but she was sure that once everything was in place, they would feel right at home.

"Um, princess? I was wondering, where did you get all of you're treasure's?" Rath asked curiously as he finally finished eating and pushed his plate away, leaving what food was left for the others to consume.

Lexie looked at Rath, her expression one of surprise. Most of the people who came into her home either didn't notice the artifacts that she kept or tried to con her into letting them steal them from her. So being asked about them was certainly a pleasant surprise. "I found them." She said, wondering if her evasive answer would spark a lively discussion.

She didn't have to wait long before Nefer-tina asked. "Where did you find them?"

"Various places. Rome, Eygpt, China, Norway, England, France..."

"How did you find them?" Ja-Kal asked, tilting his head in that peculiar animalistic manner. She smiled a little bit at his question and popped another small piece of bread in her mouth and chewed as she thought on how best to answer him. She didn't want to lie but at the same time she didn't want to be totally honest. She wasn't sure how they would handle knowing she was more or less a freak.

"Well, I did mention to you that I was a part time archeologist right?" They all nodded, vaguely recalling her mentioning something like that the night before. "Good. Now do you know what an archeologist does?"

"They find things." Armon said excitedly, sounding like a small child playing a game. Lexie smiled again and nodded.

"That's right, they find things. But none of them have the advantage that I do."

"Advantage?"

"Yeah. I can find certain things just by being in the same area as them." Lexie said then fell silent, waiting for the next round of questions. The mummies looked at her strangely as Rath asked,

"How can you find them from just being in the same general location?" Ah, clever of him to sort of zero in on her carefully worded reply like that. She thought before saying,

"I have a special talent. It's a bit strange to explain to people who have never encounter such a thing before...but the objects that are here as my personal collection are all pieces that I found using my talent to 'see' and 'hear' what normally can't be seen or heard," She got a bunch of puzzled looks that almost made her laugh. They were just so comical. "Okay, here's another way to think about it. Let's say one of you got lost in a very large, woodland area and couldn't be found. While the other's would try looking for you the old fashion way- by tracking. I would just have to touch the ground or a tree and I'd be able to zero in on you're location automatically."

"The artifacts that I own were found in a similar fashion. The only real difference is that unlike human beings, inanimate objects, leave strong emotional impressions of the past behind. Like the treasure chest full of gems, bars and coins for instance- It was on a ship that sunk while on it's way to France. Everyone on the ship left behind an impression of utter terror when the ship capsized. I can't really blame them though. If I were being forced into shark infested water's I'd be pretty damn scared too."

"T-That is absolutely amazing! I have never heard of such a power before." Rath said with a thoughtful look on his face as he went on to say, "That must have been how you got hurt last night by the sorcerer's attack! He must have known about you're ability and tried to-"

Lexie shook her head no and Rath fell silent as she said, "There was no sorcerer Rath. What happened last night, happened to me because I placed to much stress on my body. Using my talent over and over again is draining in more way than one. I've had times where I've used it so much that I wound up in the hospital just barely alive."

"What?!" Ja-Kal all but shouted as he shot to his feet, his hands coming down on her table almost hard enough to splinter the hard wood. "You mean that you could have died last night because you used you're 'talent'?"

She sighed and set her bread roll aside, her stomach already protesting what little food was in it, and licked her fingers. Seemingly uninterested by his reaction before replying gently, "My abilities are like a double edged sword. They do as much good as they do damage. It's why people like me barely live to the ripe old age of thirty. Although the few who do wind up placing more stress on themselves, and still die inevitably. To avoid dying young, I dress in bulky clothing. Long sleeves, pants, sometimes even gloves- to avoid them being touched. But if a person is feeling enough raw hatred or sorrow or other equally strong feelings then I'm going to feel it too regardless of how careful I am."

The four regarded her with carefully blanked expressions, not really knowing what to say as she quietly got up and started collecting some of the empty dishes so that she could wash them.


	10. Chapter 10

Lexie blocked out the sounds of whispered conversation from the four as she washed a majority of the pots and pans that had been dirtied and set them aside before bothering to load her dishwasher with what was left over. After pouring in the soap and closing the dishwasher, she started the machine up and then glanced over at her new friends.

The four had more or less been quiet ever since she had gotten up from the table. Not that they needed to be loud for her to hear what they were thinking. She could _feel_ what they were feeling. Rath was trying to think of a way to teach her to shield herself, which in itself wasn't a bad idea. It was just an unpredictable one since he was bound to get frustrated with her at some point. Ja-Kal was already obsessing on how to best protect her from himself, the others, and everyone else.

She even caught the sarcastic thought about slaughtering every one within a thirty mile radius slithering through his mind along with his feelings of helplessness and rage. _Oh_ he was just hating this.

Armon was trying to think of something to help... But was coming up with nothing but odd little hieroglyphs of fish. So, yeah- that was no help at all. And Nefer-tina, well her thoughts and emotions were sort of- er..._unclear_. Kind of like muddy water.

Lexie knew that she was disturbed by what she had told them, she could feel it. But her thoughts were so chaotic that it was difficult to read one thought before it shifted and changed to another. Sighing, she grabbed a towel from the counter and dried off her hands then put it back down and looked for her phone.

If she was going to take the mummies out shopping she was first going to call one of her stores and place an order for more groceries. She found the phone and dialed the number when it occurred to her that to keep them happily fed without starving herself, she'd have to triple the order. And possibly get a new fridge or freezer too. It was a good thing she was the second richest person in the state despite her age or she'd be screwed.

Putting the phone up to her ear she listened to it ring twice before someone picked up.

_"Wal-Mart, how may we help you?"_

"Hey, Sherry. It's Lexie Carnovan. I'm calling to place a new grocery order."

_"Hey Lexie, what's up?"_ Sherry asked in an happy tone that she usually adopted when she and her boyfriend weren't fighting and she was feeling good about it.

"Not much."

_"So placing a new order, the usual?"_

"Yeah. But I'm tripling the order. Also see if you can find some XXXL men's clothes. Shirts and jeans...uh, shorts, socks, shoes size-" She leaned a little to the side and glanced at Armon, checking the proportions of his body and calculating what she estimated the size of his feet were. "Let's go with size twelve. Two pairs of boots and two pairs of sneakers."

_"Uh...okay... Is that all?" _

"Yeah. I'll be there later to pick everything up."

_"Okay. See ya." _

"Right. Later."

She hung up the phone to find the four on their feet, quietly watching her just a foot or so away. Their expressions curious. "Okay, you're curious about what is going to happen now," The four all exchanged a look as she set the phone down on the counter and said, "And I'll tell you in a minute since I need to find three of you some clothes so that you can leave the house with me."

She left them standing in the kitchen and went to her bedroom and pulled a medium sized box out of her closet, and pulled out several articles of clothing. Two sweaters, one a deep blue, the other an emerald green with black stripes on the sleeves. As well as some jeans that should fit them.

Then grabbed a nice red dress from the back of her closet for Nefer-tina and gathered them all up and went back into the kitchen and set the clothing on the counter and sorted through them before pulling some out of the pile and holding them out to one of the mummies. "Here," She said as she waited for someone to take the clothes from her. Ja-Kal and Rath looked at the clothing and frowned for a moment before Rath reached out and took the green sweater and jeans from her. "It's clothing Rath. It's not something that's going to bite you." She said in amusement as she held out the blue sweater and matching jeans to Ja-Kal next.

He took the clothing from her and studied it for a moment as she handed Nefer-tina the dress and said. "I need to go out and since I can't exactly leave all of you here, three of you will come with me to collect some stuff from the store. Clothing, shoes, jackets... Then we'll go to another store where each of you will choose a bed, dresser, shelves, TV's-"

"Whatever you feel you'll need in you're own space to make you feel comfortable. Armon, I'm sorry but I don't have anything that can fit you right now. So I'll pick up some stuff for you and tomorrow I'll take you out for the same reason. All you have to do is stay here, eat what's left of the food in my fridge, and I'll take care of the rest okay."

Armon looked crestfallen for a moment or so until Lexie leaned over and said in a semi whispering tone, "I'll buy a fridge to go in you're room and while we're gone- you'll get to pick out you're room." He blinked at her then smiled, understanding that she was trying to cheer him up since he couldn't go out into the city with the rest of them for now.

Ja-Kal and Rath started to untie the colorful belts holding their skirt's up as Nefer-tina started to ditch what clothing was covering her body before Lexie could so much as stop any of them. Squeaking in embarrassment, her jaw dropped open as all three of them suddenly stood there in her dining room as naked as the day they had been born.

_"O-Oh my god!" _She almost shrieked as she covered her eyes and started to drop down to the floor and wound up laying on her back when she accidentally banged her head on the counter hard enough to get dizzy and lose her balance and fall.

"Princess!" Rath said in alarm as he and the others dropped their clothing and moved to check on her as she groaned and said weakly, caught somewhere between the urge of laughing or crying.

"Please don't come over here..."

"But if we do not see you, how will we know that you are okay?"

"Trust me. I'm fine. I just have a little bit of a headache." Lexie said as she pushed herself upright while thinking, _Goddamn what a view. _Banging her head after seeing the guys butt naked had been totally worth it, in her opinion. Although... Nefer-tina wasn't half bad looking either. But then many Egyptians were known to be exotically beautiful whether they were male or female.

Wait a second- Lexie thought as she looked at the three mummies, studying them, her expression somewhat confused. Ja-Kal and Rath looked like full blooded Egyptians. They had the facial features, the thick black hair, the same bronze skin color... Even the shape of their eyes was purely Egyptian. But the color- Ja-Kal's piercing blue, and Rath's stormy green.

Those weren't the traits of full blooded Egyptians. Those were the traits of foreigners.

Such flaws weren't easily overlooked back in the ancient times due to the fact that some cultures enslaved, maimed, or sacrificed those different than themselves. She knew Rath knew magic and enchantments- he'd probably learned from a high priest as a child. So he would have been able to fend for himself. Ja-Kal however must have grown up on the streets and been picked up late in his teens to early twenties by one of the royal family and formally trained as a soldier.

Which would explain some of his habits. Like staring at someone unblinkingly and moving soundlessly from place to place. His ability to stalk, ambush and track would have had to be unparalleled back in the day.

She could only imagine how much both men's skills had improved over the past thirty thousand years. Which may be how Ja-Kal managed to sneak up on her while she was lost in thought. Because one minute she was just sitting on the floor rubbing her aching head, and the next he was crouched down right in front of her- still naked by the way- and she had a really, _really_ nice view of his body up close and personal.

_Oh dear god- _Was she going to faint? She felt like she was going to faint. She thought in a panic as he leaned in so close that he trapped her in place with his body as he very gently ran his fingers along her forehead then along her scalp. Feeling for any bumps that may have come up when she hit her head.

She put her hands against his chest as she stared over his shoulder and flushed at the feel of his bare skin under her hands. Good god the man was built. She thought as he pressed against her a little more causing her to whimper as she blushed even more.

She could feel his chest against hers! His hands moving along her scalp to her nape, his long fingers wrapping around her nape loosely, the heat of his body, the strength of it- causing her to shiver almost violently as she exhaled a shaky breath. "Ja-kal! P-Please stop!" She felt like if she didn't get him away from her and get him fully clothed she'd go into emotional meltdown.

She felt his fingertips still then tighten on her nape a little bit before loosening them and pulling away just enough to study her face for a moment before shrugging and backing off enough for her to shift and move to stand up. She got up and started by him, pausing only long enough to turn her head and eye him for a second before she started to leave the room feeling almost surprised that he hadn't bothered to grab her ankle and jerk her leg out from under her and drag her back into the kitchen kicking and screaming.

"G-Go get dressed, please." She stammered as she tried not to blush too hard.

"And what will you do princess?" He asked, tilting his head slightly. His gaze calculating.

"I-I'm going to- to change my clothes for our outing." She said as she quickly scampered out of the room.


	11. Chapter 11

When Lexie returned to the kitchen five minutes later wearing socks, pants and a teal sweater that was two times too big for her with black gloves on her hands, Rath, Nefer-tina and Ja-Kal were all dressed and waiting for her while Armon was parked in the kitchen floor in front of the fridge- Cleaning her out of what little foods she had left.

"Well, is everyone ready to go?" She asked as she walked a little circle around both Rath and Ja-Kal, checking to see how well the clothing fit them. The jeans were form fitting. Showing off their long legs and lean build. The sweaters fit well enough although Ja-Kal's was a little bit looser than she had anticipated. So much so that one side of the collar slipped from one of his shoulders.

Showing off an enticing view of skin that made her palms itch to touch.

His long hair hung loosely down his back, giving him a wild look that many women would flock too. Which could mean trouble for them when they went out. Especially since she didn't have a handy dandy stick to beat them all off with. Reaching out she grasped his shirt collar and tugged it back up into place then dropped her arm as she made a mental not to give him and Rath both a haircut when they came back home.

She could take some length off of their hair and maybe layer it and make the two look like super models.

Yeah, she could definitely imagine that.

Then when she finished with them she'd do something with Armon and Nefer-tina. Armon had short hair, so... maybe all she'd have to do is just get him some decent clothing. Nefer-tina could be a bit of a challenge. She was young, and pretty in her own right. She didn't really need a haircut but a small trim would do wonders for her split ends. And as for clothing, she could design a few outfits for her that would just be stunning.

The only problem she had with that was that she'd still need to have a stick handy to beat the guys off of her.

"Alright kitties, lets go." She said as she led them through the house to the door and opened it and let them walk through it before her so that she could lock the door behind her before stepping through and closing it. Then led the three around the back to where her car was parked and climbed in and waited for them to follow.

They stood there for a moment or two, seemingly debating on whether or not to follow. They didn't exactly trust the horseless chariots. They made them nervous with how fast they went and that loud noise they made when they were annoyed.

Lexie looked out the car window at the three doing statue impersonations just a few feet from her car and sighed. She knew that seeing a car (or riding in one for that matter) would be a little bit of a touché subject with them since they didn't know what the vehicle was for and could only guess at it's uses. But still, they didn't have all day for the three to get comfortable with the machine and it's inner workings.

She wanted to get this trip out of the way before she used up what energy she had since she still wasn't feeling all that great.

Sighing, she let her head drop so that it rested against the steering wheel as she reached out blindly and fumbled with the handle for a second before managing to open the door. "Guys..." She called out tiredly. "Please get in the car so that we can leave."

Looking like they were walking with a death sentence hanging over their heads, the mummies complied and got into the car and shut the doors while she started it up and then backed her car up and pulled into the street.

The trip to the store didn't exactly go smoothly thanks to all the panicked shouting and screaming that just seemed to make getting from point A to point B, take that much more time. And by the time she had parked the car and the mummies had jumped out and started kissing the pavement and praising Ra for allowing them to survive such a harrowing ordeal- she had a headache that felt like there were jackhammers pounding away at the inside of her skull.

And they weren't even anywhere near started on their shopping dammit.

Sighing again, she climbed out of the car and looked down at Nefer-tina and Rath, both of whom were curled up with their foreheads touching the ground, looking a little...green? Was it even possible for mummies to get sick? Lexie wondered as Ja-Kal walked around the front of her car and paused next to her so that he could kick one of her tires.

Obviously he hadn't cared for the ride anymore than the others.

A pity since she was one of the safest people to ride with.

"That was horrible!" He said as he kicked her car tire none too gently, checking to see if the chariot was dead. It didn't react to his kick so he assumed that it was. But that didn't necessarily mean anything. "I thought I was going to die all over again." He said, his voice lowering back to normal as he glanced over at her to see if she was as disturbed as he was.

She wasn't. Or if she was, she hid it well.

Rath and Nefer-tina though...not so much.

Looking around the parking lot, Ja-Kal took note of all the horseless chariots and surmised that they were standing in a graveyard of some sort. And just a short distance behind him was a large building that looked like a temple of some sort. There were people everywhere. Walking through the graveyard to the building, walking out of the building.

Was there some sort of ritual or festival going on? Did they need offerings so that they didn't offend one of the gods?

Reaching out he grasped Lexie's shirt sleeve and tugged slightly to get her attention, and once he had it- he pointed to the people and the building. His expression questioning as she took his hand in hers and gave it a little squeeze to reassure him that everything would be fine. The only time that it wouldn't be is if they went shopping of black Friday- the day after thanksgiving. Where the crowds of people hit the stores early.

Like a plague of locusts.

Or packs of rabid wild animals.

She never left the house the day after thanksgiving. She didn't dare try to brave the crowds for stuff she didn't want or need. "Alright guys, enough messing around. Lets go get the stuff I mentioned earlier." She said as she started walking towards the building.

The mummies fell into step behind her, silently, she was happy to notice. And although their lack of noise didn't drown out everyone else's. She still somehow managed to coax them into the building where she immediately grabbed a buggy and glanced over towards where the greeter was standing, noting that her food order was already boxed up and ready to be picked up.

Leading the three to the clothing department she quickly made Ja-Kal and Rath turn around so that she could check the sizes of the shirts and jeans. Once she got that she waded through the racks of clothing and located several items that they would need. Casual clothing and formal clothing (just in case they ever decided to go out on their own) Jackets, T-shirts, PJ's, socks, shorts, hats, some more pants. Short sleeved shirts in various colors ranging from emerald green to blood red, black, jade, teal, sapphire, aqua, and turquoise...

And by the time she was done, her buggy was full of enough men's clothing to last a short lifetime.

And she still wasn't done. Sending the two men over to the shoe department as she grabbed Nefer-tina and headed for the women's clothes.


	12. Chapter 12

_This could be a bit of a problem. _Lexie thought as Nefer-tina walked around the various clothes racks and shoppers, studying everything before her. Not that Lexie could blame her any, she was probably curious about the various fashions and clothing designs. Girls tended to be pickier about what they wore than guys were. Not that Lexie knew from personal experience or anything. She wasn't that choosy.

If it had long sleeves and wasn't too much of a pain- she wore it. Didn't matter if it was clean, dirty, old, new, or partially eaten by moths. To her clothes were clothes. End of story.

But she imagined that Nefer-tina would pick her clothing based more on appearance and comfort, which was fine except for one tiny little detail. They'd been standing in the women's clothes for close to thirty minute's now and the woman hadn't chosen anything. Not a single shirt or skirt or dress. Nothing! _I wonder if this was how my parents used to feel whenever they took me shopping as a kid? _She wondered as she saw Nefer-tina walk around one display in particular for what must have been the hundredth time in the last ten minutes.

Honestly Lexie was starting to get dizzy just standing there watching her circle the clearance rack like a frigging shark.

Sighing Lexie looked around and grabbed several items and tossed them in her buggy, hoping that it would prompt Nefer-tina to choose some stuff so that they could hurry and go check on the guys before something- She heard a loud crash followed by several yelps and shouting that seemed to be coming from the shoe department and gnashed her teeth. _Damn!_ Too late.

From the sound of things the guys had already gotten themselves into trouble.

"What was that noise?" Nefer-tina asked as she made her way back to her side, her expression curious as Lexie replied in a growling tone.

"That was the sound of two very dead men getting themselves into trouble."

Nefer-tina looked down at her as Lexie crossed her arms over her chest and glared in the direction the noise was coming from. "Whatever did they do to cause such trouble?"

"I'd say that they knocked something over. Possibly onto a few people."

"Should we not check on them?" Nefer-tina asked, sounding concerned. Lexie thought for a moment then made an irked sound and told her to keep looking until she found some stuff she liked while she went to check on Rath and Ja-Kal. Walking over to the shoe department which was located just between the men's and women's clothing, Lexie found both Rath and Ja-Kal being yelled at by one of the salesmen and saw red.

Sure the guys shouldn't have knocked anything over but they didn't quite yet grasp the concept of _you-break-it-you-buy-it_, besides it was her fault for leaving them alone long enough to damage store property to begin with.

Walking over to the two fretting mummies, her hackles raised by the salesman's tone as he berated them- That was it, she decided enough was enough! Her boys didn't deserve to be treated in such a harsh manner and she'd be damned if it'd continue. "Hey dumbass," She raised her voice to get the angry man's attention as she walked up and placed herself between Ja-Kal and Rath and the salesman.

The man gave her a reproachful glare as he sneered, "What the fuck do you want?"

"First of all, that's no way to talk to paying customers, idiot. And second of all, you're fired. Get you're shit and get the hell out of my store before I have you thrown out." Lexie said, not bothering to beat around the bush any.

The man blinked at her for a moment, his expression still angry as his hand shot out and grabbed her by the shirt before she could take a step back. His anger was white hot and pierced her mind like a poker that had been held over a fire too long. The sheer strength of it nearly made her cry out before someone forced him to let go of her and she blinked her hazy eyes until she could see again. Ja-Kal had the man in a choke hold and Rath had his arms around her body, holding her protectively as the man thrashed around and tried to get free.

She could hear his thoughts, he wasn't finished with her yet. He wanted to crush her. To beat her head in until there was nothing left but pink tissue and blood on the floor where her head and face used to be.

She shivered at his hatred. He hated this job. He hated his wife. He hated his children.

He'd one day kill them if they pissed him off too badly.

Burying her face against Rath's shoulder, she tried to regulate her breathing. But it was difficult since she felt as if she were about to be sick to her stomach. She heard a familiar voice of one of her friends who worked at the store coming to see what was going on, then heard the sound of flesh striking flesh with a resounding crack and blinked as she saw Sherry standing between her and the man with her hands on her hips. Looking as mean as a bear that had been woken up far too early.

And she could plainly see Ja-Kal looking puzzled as Sherry started tearing into the guy for touching her before repeating Lexie's earlier words, "You're fired! Get you're shit and get out!"


	13. Chapter 13

"My god, Lexie- Are you alright? You're as pale as a ghost!" The woman said as she took in how pale her young friend was compared to how she usually looked.

Her skin was so pale that it was almost translucent enough for her to see the blue of her veins running under her skin.

"I-I'm fine Sherry."

"Like hell you are! You look like you're about to keel over... Do I need to call an ambulance?" Sherry asked in a panicked tone as she gently pried Lexie out of Rath's reluctant grasp and helped her over to a small bench so that she could sit down. Not aware that she was being closely watched by the two mummies as Nefer-tina came up to them pushing the buggy that the princess had left with her.

Lexie sank down onto the bench with a grateful look as she shook her head.

"No. I'm fine," Lexie lied, feeling ill. That man's hatred seemed to be slithering through her heart and mind like a serpent. Still burning white hot with his rage. That man was dangerous. Far too dangerous to leave walking the streets especially when she could feel that he was working himself up to a nice murderous rampage. "Do me a favor and get me the personal info on that guy. Then call security and see to it that he never steps foot in this store again." She said, her voice brooking no argument from her friend.

"Alright- Consider it done. But in the meantime I want you to rest."

Lexie gave Sherry a wane half smile and shook her head no. "Can't. I have things to do."

Sherry frowned at her and asked, "Can't you put the stuff off until you're feeling better?" Lexie shook her head no again. Earning a dark look from Sherry. Oh she was _not_ happy with her answer. No, if Sherry had her way- Lexie would find herself back at home, in bed with the covers drawn up to her chin with an ice pack sitting on the bedside table- well within reach just in case she had a bad headache.

"Fraid not. Ya see those three just behind you-" Lexie said as she pointed to the mummies as Sherry turned her head to look at them curiously while Lexie finished speaking, "Those three are my cousin's from out of town. They decided to move here and sort of showed up out of the blue after a nice phone call and a _lengthy_ chat. They're staying with me and because the move was so sudden, they're sort of lacking in things. Clothing, furniture, personal effects, ect... So I can't go home until they've got everything they need."

Sherry opened her mouth to say something then snapped it closed and sat down in the floor in front of Lexie and muttered, "Riiiiggghhht. Cousins. I wondered why you would triple you're usual monthly food order so suddenly. Especially since you just picked up an order a little over a week ago. But it never even occurred to me that you probably had a few new mouths to feed," Sherry said before asking nervously, "Are you sure that they aren't just ax murderers or something? That one with the green eyes sort of looks like he could start lopping off heads any second now."

Lexie gave her a bored look while Rath bristled at her comment and crossed his arms and glared at her.

He was _not_ amused.

"Nefer-tina, did you find some stuff?" Lexie asked as Sherry got up and moved to get back to work. Nefer-tina nodded her head and glanced down at the buggy where she had put everything. Lexie got up slowly, cautious that she may become dizzy and have her legs give out on her if she wasn't careful. Her stomach knotted and cramped as she walked the few steps over to the mummies and peered down at Nefer-tina's findings and snorted.

It was a good thing she and Nefer-tina were close to the same size in clothing otherwise the older woman would look sort of like an human shaped Christmas tree or something. Everything she had picked was either gold, silver, blue, purple or red and green. Lexie looked at Nefer-tina with a bizarre expression on her face, looking as if she half expected the older woman to sprout tree limbs from her head or something at any minute.

It would have been funny if she still wasn't feeling the lingering after effects of the man's rage still fresh in her mind.

"Well, I can tell when I've been dismissed," Sherry groused as she stared a hole though Lexie's back. "I'll just leave you four alone now and go collect that information you wanted." She said as she turned and started to walk off when Lexie called out.

"Hey Sherry, know what?"

Sherry smiled to herself recognizing the game that she and Lexie played every time one of them felt guilty about something. "No. What?" Sherry called back as she turned around to look at Lexie as she said,

"I love you."

Sherry grinned at the younger girl and waved as she walked off. Lexie's three cousins from out of town all gaped at the two of them, obviously not knowing that though she didn't like to be touched- Lexie _was_- and always would be an affectionate person. She was merely overly cautious with who she was affectionate with. Picking only the people that she felt were worthy of her time and affection.

(************************************************* ************************************************** ***************************)

**_This is it for this chap. I'm sorry I slowed down but I started another story that could be cool. _**

**_And I'm looking for someone who could take a story request from me. I have an awesome Mummies alive story idea but I can't write it on my own. And sometimes a different perspective is useful. _**

**_As always- a few more reviews would be nice. But whatever._**

**_Later!_**


	14. Chapter 14

"Y-Y-You l-love- H-H-How? W-Why?!" Rath continued to stammer as she finished putting what was left of the clothing she had bought for them in the back of her car then got inside, knowing that the distraught mummy was too preoccupied by what she had said to Sherry before checking out- that he didn't even realize that he was in the car again.

Awesome. Now all she had to do was pick up the food and-

"How could you say such words so carelessly! That woman now probably thinks she will one day be Queen!" Rath wailed as Lexie started the car, startling him into silence for a moment before he started up again. This time with Ja-Kal wholeheartedly agreeing with him.

"Rath is right, my princess. You must be very careful about who you give you're affections too."

"Aw quit it. I don't want to hear that from a bunch of people who lived during an age of indiscriminant sex and orgies."

"What the-" Ja-Kal started.

"Where did you hear such-" Rath started to say when Nefer-tina sighed wistfully and said aloud,

"Yeah. Those were fun times. I kind of miss them," Causing Lexie and the two men to slowly turn to look at her, Rath's jaw slack, Ja-Kal's face was flushed with embarrassment as he thought about the orgy where he had met his wife Tia, while Lexie just stared at her for a moment before Nefer-tina seemed to realize that they were all looking at her. "Er, what I mean is- Rath and Ja-Kal are right. You should listen to them." She said, trying to divert attention from her by shifting it back to Lexie.

"Nice save. But I think you're still gonna get lectured." Lexie said as she drove the car around to the loading dock to the side of the store and parked with the back to the store then got out and walked around the car and opened the trunk as several kids she knew came out carrying her stuff and load it into the back of the car on top of the bags of clothing. Once that was done, Lexie waved at the kids after promising to see them at the local youth center in a few days time for their usual game of hoops then got back into the car which had fallen completely silent up until she got back in.

"I cannot believe that you attended an orgy, Nefer-tina!" Rath said in an aghast tone. Nefer-tina shrugged her shoulders at his tone then deflected the conversation away from her by saying,

"What's the big deal Rath? So I attended one. I was old enough to participate. Besides, if you really want to lecture someone then lecture Ja-Kal. I know for a fact that he went to a few before he married-" Causing said man to stiffen in his seat and flush furiously as he shook his head no and tried to shut Nefer-tina up with a glare that was downright threatening. He didn't want the princess to know anything of his sorded past. It was mortifying!

Besides, he didn't like the way his princess was suddenly looking at him with that odd look that practically screamed, "Oh really. Interesting."

Like she could somehow see- _Oh...right_. He'd sort of forgotten about her little ability for the moment. He thought as he gave himself a mental shake. Ra in the heavens above, how could he have forgotten about her ability so easily? It was such a peculiar power that one would think he and the others would be utterly fascinated by it and want to know what else she could do with it aside from 'see' and 'hear' what cannot be seen or heard.

After all there had to be a few things that she was neglecting to tell them about it. Like could she touch someone and automatically absorb their knowledge and life experiences? He was curious to know. But for some strange reason he couldn't bring himself to ask as she carefully maneuvered the car out of the market parking lot and back onto the road.

He reached over and gripped the strange handle attached to the door and tried not to start panicking like he had before. But it was difficult. There were so many horseless chariots everywhere and not many of them were as carefully driven as his princess's chariot was. In fact by the time they came to their second stop for the day, Ja-Kal was practically vibrating with rage at some of the people's behavior towards his princess.

How was it possible that royalty couldn't be recognized? Surely the people of this strange new era knew that the princess would one day rule them. So why show such disrespect? Was it some sort of rite of passage? A way to test her and see if she was worthy of the throne?

He didn't get it.

He did however growl like a rabid animal at some young men who approached them with the intent to speak to the princess. Thus scaring them away. And it was a good thing too, he was in a very dark mood and might have tried ripping them apart with his bare hands if they hadn't run.

Lexie looked over at him as he took up a position to her right, well within arms reach of her- His blue eyes glaring at everyone and everything that dared to get close, and sighed. She couldn't very well take him and the others furniture shopping like this. Reaching out with one of her hands she tapped him on the shoulder and waited until he turned his head to look at her- then flicked him on the forehead.

He stood there next to her with a startled look on his handsome face, probably wondering what had just happened as she said, "I know that you mean well but please stop growling and snarling for now. I'll not stand for you scaring innocent people just because you're pissed. Whatever is on you're mind can wait until we get home and you have proper time to vent and calm down."

He lifted his hand to his forehead and gently touched the spot where she had flicked him and stared at her for a moment before dropping his hand. His expression one of astonishment as he thought, How odd. All of the anger he'd felt just moments ago was gone as if it had never been. _How had she done that? _He wondered as he and the others followed her into a small building full of furniture and such.

"Uh, princess-"

"Shh." Lexie shushed him as a sales rep came walking up looking happy. But then everyone in this side of town knew about the kid multi millionaire.

"Miss Carnovan, how are you today?" The rep asked as he reached out and tried to shake Lexie's hand. Lexie looked at the appendage as if it were a snake just waiting to bite her and stuffed her hands in her pants pockets. The man looked a little disappointed that she didn't take his hand, but his smile only faultered for a second before he seemed to get over his disappointment.

"I'm fine Ethan. How are you?"

"Great. My wife, Ann just had our first baby. A little boy. Wanna see his picture?" The man asked excitedly as he fished out the picture before Lexie could say anything to stop him. He pulled the picture out of his wallet and handed it to her and gave her a grin that only a new father could pull off as she studied the image of his son.

"He looks like he'll be a little heartbreaker Ethan."

"Damn right he will. He's got his mother's looks after all."

"What'd you name him?"

"We haven't yet. My wife and her side of the family are all very superstitious when it comes to naming children. Especially when they think the wrong name could cause them to be cursed in life."

"Cursed?" Well that was a peculiar thing to hear, Lexie thought as she took one of her glove tips in between her teeth and pulled the material off of her hand and said, "Let's see if I can help keep him from being cursed." She switched hands and grasped the picture between her bare fingers and focused for a second. Trying to see a small glimpse of the kid's future.

_"What are you doing little man?" A woman with strawberry blond hair and amber eyes asked the cooing toddler crawling at her feet. The baby looked up at her and grinned. _

"He's going to have you're smile Ethan. You're honey colored eyes too-" Lexie said absently as she pushed further unaware that she was drawing a little bit of a crowd. Ethan remained quiet as the mummies all shifted uncomfortably.

_"Ma, ma, ma, ma!" The baby said over and over again, excited that he was starting to pick up on words and how to say them. The woman smiled down at him and scooped him up and spun him around causing him to laugh like mad. Ma-ma fun! The baby thought happily as he curled up in the woman's arms and put his thumb in his mouth. _

_"That's right sweetie. Grab a nap before daddy gets home so you can talk to him," The baby cooed at her a few times then drifted off to sleep to the sound of his mother's voice. "Sleep tight Ash." _

Lexie opened her eyes and handed Ethan the photo and smirked and said, "His name is Ash." Ethan blinked at her then gave her a slow smile. Ash. He'd always liked that name.


	15. Chapter 15

The man Ethan was practically glowing as he stuffed the small piece of scroll back into his pocket and asked what he could do for their princess. Ja-Kal, Rath and Nefer-tina all watched the interaction between the two carefully, noting that their princess seemed to know the man on a personal level. Like she had known the messenger at the museum and the woman from the other market.

There just seemed to be a sense of closeness that she didn't really give off when around others. But with these people- she did things that were uncharacteristic of a future pharaoh. She did them favors. Joked. Even spoke to them as if they were her equals.

Such behavior was practically unheard of in a ruler.

It made them curious to know what was so special about these people. Were they nobles? Of royal descent?

"Ethan, I'm feeling a little off after..." Lexie said as she let her voice trail off knowing that Ethan would know what she was talking about. The man looked at her with concern and nodded his head in understanding.

"Oh, oh right. Of course-" He said absently as he grasped her upper arm in one hand and maneuvered her over to a bed and gently pushed her down on it. "Lay down here for a bit while I take care of your friends."

Lexie gave the man a weak smile then said, "Thanks." As her eyes drifted shut and seemed to instantly fall asleep as the man, Ethan nodded and turned to them and then asked,

"Okay, while she's napping- How about I hook you three up with some stuff. Where would you three like to get started? The bedroom sets? Chairs? We have pretty much anything. Just point me in the right direction."

"Our princess- _Oomff_!" Rath started to say when Nefer-tina elbowed him sharply in the ribs, effectively stopping him from saying anything else as she picked up where he left off.

"What he means to say is our _cousin_, Lexie, wishes us to pick out some things for each of our new bedrooms. Ya know, to make us more comfortable in our new home." Ethan nodded his head and smiled warmly as he turned and looked around for a second and then indicated that they should follow him. They did as he bid him too, though they were somewhat jumpy about being led away from their princess.

After all if they were away from her they couldn't protect her. But once they reached an area no more than fifty feet from her and came to a stop- they managed to collect themselves enough to focus on their current task. Picking out furniture, as it turned out, wasn't as difficult a task as they had thought would be since they were allowed to try the beds and chairs to see what they liked best.

Nefer-tina chose a whole bedroom set complete with a twin sized bed made of pure white oak, a matching chest, bedside table, a large cabinet for nick-nacks, a vanity, dresser, two shelves, and a comfy recliner. All in all it was a nice choice. So while she continued to check out her stuff and figure out what she was going to do with it Rath started to pick out his things.

Going for a comfortable hand carved king sized bed, a bedside table, three shelves for books and scrolls, a small dresser, a table to spread his things out on when he was in the mood to look through some old stuff, and a comfy little green couch.

Leaving just Ja-Kal to pick out his things.

Ja-Kal took his time in picking out his furniture, going for two nice shelves to put any interesting reading material in, a medium sized cabinet (for any weapons he may decide to collect), a nice little table with a matching chair to put in the far corner of his room, a small dresser to place some of his clothing in, and for a bed... Well he didn't care much for the decadent pieces that he was shown.

They were far too soft for his taste.

He preferred something that would hold his weight.

After all before he had become a guardian to Rapses, he had lived on the streets. He'd had nothing. And when you have nothing, you expect nothing. Not kindness, not warmth, not even hope... But after being picked by the pharaoh to take care of the prince- things had changed at a dramatic pace for him. But some of those old feelings lingered even now.

They were simply a part of who he was.

But if this was really what his princess wished for him- then he would do it. If only to please her. So after walking from the area with the beds over to another area where there were chairs similar to the one that Rath had picked out, he managed to find what he was looking for in a pale cream colored chair. "I like this one." He said as he stretched out on it, deciding that since his princess wanted him to have the furniture, he should at least become comfortable with using it.

The man, Ethan gave him a peculiar look then glanced in the direction of his princess. Ja-Kal watched the man through narrowed eyes, wondering what he was thinking when the man finally said, "I don't think this is what Lexie had in mind when she wanted you to pick out stuff for you're new room. But if you like the chair- there is a smaller one that will work well in you're bedroom. It's small so it won't take up much space."

"But I like this one." Ja-Kal said, getting irritated with the man for trying to talk him out of his bed.

"Look I'm not saying that you can't have it, big guy. But think of things from Lexie's point of view. She probably wants you to have a proper bed for you're room, not some tiny chair that can barely hold you. The chair is fine for cat napping or grabbing an hour or so of sleep but anything more than that will cause you nothing but pain in you're neck and shoulders. Besides, what will you do if you decide to get a girlfriend? Is she gonna sleep on that little thing too?"

"No-" Ja-Kal said as he gave Ethan a dark look and slowly pushed himself up from the couch. His long dark hair slipping over his shoulders as he said in a softer tone. "I would not take a- er, 'girlfriend' seeing as my wife would be displeased with me if I dared."

"You have a wife. And you want the couch instead of a bed?" Ethan asked in a disbelieving tone, his expression all but saying- This guy's wife must be a harpy if he prefers the couch to her bed. "My apologies, my friend. The couch it is." _I just hope I don't wind up as the reason his wife kills him, the poor bastard. _Ethan thought as he moved to go wake Lexie. Figuring that since she was paying for everything, she might want to look at the stuff that her cousin's had picked out.

Ja-Kal raised up a little bit more as he watched the man walk the fifty feet to where his princess lay and gently placed his hand on her shoulder and shook her. Blue eyes narrowed as they glared at the man's back as Ja-Kal thought, _That's right. Tread carefully. _

His princess awoke with a slight start and looked at the man as he leaned down and said something to her causing her to raise up slowly and push a delicate hand through her dark hair then nod her head as she muttered, "Yeah sure. Coming." As she rolled off of the bed she'd been napping on and stood in place for a moment, stifling a yawn behind one of her hands before she bothered to move.

Stuffing her hands in her jean pockets as she followed Ethan over to Nefer-tina and Rath's stuff and gave everything that had been picked out a brief appraising glance before Ethan pointed out Ja-Kal's stuff. Including the couch that he was sprawled out on.

Ja-Kal stared at his princess as she sighed and walked over to him and dropped down into a crouching position next to him and asked, "Comfy?"

"It is...acceptable." He replied softly as he looked at her. She had a bemused look on her face as she said,

"Ethan tells me that you'd rather have the couch than a proper bed."

"Ethan should mind his own business." Ja-Kal said in a low growling tone, clearly annoyed with the man. Honestly why was it a big deal that he have a bed instead of the couch? It was just as easy to sleep on one as it was to sleep on the other.

Lexie covered her mouth to stifle a soft laugh, the sound catching Ja-Kal's attention like the crack of a whip. His princess found the fact that 'Ethan' wouldn't leave him alone until he chose a proper bed amusing.

Reaching out with a hand, he grasped a strand of her hair between his fingers and gave it a slight tug to punish her for laughing at something that he didn't find funny. But instead of quieting her, it only made her laugh a little bit harder as she lost her balance and fell over against his 'bed'. Blinking at her, he waited for her to stop laughing when she finally managed to calm herself enough to pat him on the arm as she stood up and called out, "Ethan! He'll take a king size bed with a metal frame."

Ethan gave her a thumbs up as Ja-Kal bolted up on the couch and started to argue but had his mouth covered by Lexie's hand.


	16. Chapter 16

Sorry for not updating sooner- I almost wound up in the hospital a few days ago while working on this chap and had to rest until today when I could actually go to the doctors. But I'll be okay in another few days so no worries, k.

As always R&R and enjoy.

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Forty five minutes later-

After picking out a nice queen sized bed and comfy chair for Armon, Lexie finished doing the paperwork in the store office and got up and left after telling Ethan that she'd probably be back in the morning sometime with another of her cousin's. The man cocked his head as a curious expression flitted across his face- but he said nothing. Only nodding his head in understanding as she stepped out of his office and collected the three she'd brought with her.

"Okay guys, let's go get Armon's fridge and a few other things then we'll head home." She said as Rath and Nefer-tina fell into step behind her while Ja-Kal took up his position on her right and looked at her with a small scowl on his handsome face. Letting her know without speaking that he was displeased with her for what she had done earlier.

Lexie however didn't seem to care at all since she glanced at him and merely gave him this angelic little smile that made him want to throttle her as they walked along the rows and rows of stores. "Okay, before we go get Armon's fridge- I'd like to stop up ahead at the book store."

"Book store?" Rath said stupidly.

Lexie smiled and nodded her head. "Yeah. It's a place where you can find all sorts of subjects to read about. I thought that since you guys are stuck in this time for now that I would get some books explaining about the ancient history of the world. The rise and fall of civilizations. And maybe even get you some stuff on modern history, laws and how they work-" She paused for a moment before continuing, "Because you'll need to know those if you ever get into trouble in this era. There's also some stuff that has to do with art and how it shaped the modern world... I think you would find them useful."

"An excellent idea princess." Rath said, excited by the prospect of getting his hands on some modern day reading material as Lexie slowed her pace and dropped back so that she was next to Nefer-tina and whispered,

"I'll get you some fun stuff to read too so you won't be too bored."

"Thank you, princess." Nefer-tina said with a grin. While Ja-Kal made a discontent sound, not really caring for the moment about any reading materials that may help him and the others assimilate themselves into the new era. He was still sulking.

"Ah, here we are." Lexie said happily as she came to a stop outside of the store she had mentioned. Looking inside the store curiously, the three mummies widened their eyes in shock upon seeing row after row after row of nothing but huge shelves with books.

"By Ra-" Ja-Kal breathed, temporarily forgetting his irritation towards his princess as Lexie giggled. She had known that they would enjoy this. After all, anyone who had spent several thousand years in a sarcophagi- locked away from the world and it's many wonders- would enjoy the first chance to learn something new about the modern world and it's people.

After all Ja-Kal and Rath were nothing but well educated men. It was only natural that eventually they would think to covet a few things in order to learn. Where as Nefer-tina was more of a manga and raunchy romance gal. And Armon...ugh. She'd get him some cook books that she knew he would like and leave it at that. She felt a tug on her wrist and blinked a moment before she suddenly found herself being dragged into the store by Rath who was rambling about all the scrolls.

The store had to hold the second largest collection he had ever seen!

"This is amazing! Simply amazing! I've never seen so many scrolls before!"

"Yeah, it's impressive alright," Lexie agreed as he continued to chatter away as he led her around several shelves, simply wandering aimlessly until she pulled him to a stop at a shelf covered in nothing but books about Egypt and pulled one down and handed it to him while Ja-Kal and Nefer-tina both came walking up looking bemused. "I often come here and get several boxes of nothing but stuff to read." She said in a wistful tone as she carefully thumbed through the pages.

"You read often?" Ja-Kal asked curiously. Part of him wanting to know why she would bother. Didn't she have people to help her with things like this?

Lexie smiled and handed the book off to Rath as she said, "Believe it or not when I was a little kid I was the only child in school who couldn't read. I was picked on by my teachers. My classmates... So when I turned nine, I came home from school one day in tears- I'd gotten into a fist fight with a group of kids several years older than me who thought it would be fun to 'knock around' the slow kid. I was bruised and bleeding and I became so angry that I locked myself in my room and refused to come out for any reason," The mummies stayed quiet as they listened. Feeling at a loss. "I didn't eat. I didn't sleep. And I would just sit there and wait for the day to end so that I could go down stairs and grab some of my mom's books. I must have grabbed close to fifty books in all, but that very same night I sat down and started to teach myself how to read. My goal was to read faster, absorb more information, memorize every word... And to do it better than anyone else in my class could ever hope to."

"It took me ten days to really get started. And then it took twenty days to train my mind to go faster, absorb the information, memorize the words- Then a month later I walked into class and read both of my whole history and science books in under a day. I remembered the information and was able to put it to good use by humiliating everyone who had hurt me. Which was fine, in a childish way. But there is always a downside to seeking knowledge no matter how great or small- once you have it, you always want more."

"I've read books on just about everything there is. Language, art, science, biology, chemistry, physics, geography- I can write in a number of different languages. I can speak those same languages flawlessly. I can design complex things and make them- I have done things that many people my age never do... And I still can't get enough of these damn books. I'm almost tempted to try writing some of my own." She said as she looked at them and smiled a little then turned and started walking along the aisle.


	17. Chapter 17

The mummies each looked at each other then slowly started to trail after their princess, wondering where she was going. And what she was going to do next. They made sure to keep a fair distance from her while keeping her within eye sight and were slightly puzzled when she walked behind one of the shelves and seemed to vanish into mid air. If not for the fact that they could hear her speaking in low tones to someone- they might have been extremely worried.

But as they rounded the corner to see what she was doing, they each froze up a little when they saw her sitting with her back against one of the shelves with her legs pulled up to her chest, staring down the flushed face of the man they had dubbed 'the messenger' as he quickly tried to pick up whatever it was that he had dropped only to have Lexie beat him to it.

She picked up a small pocket sized book and read the title, How to ask a woman out, and rolled her eyes.

Good grief. If Jim was buying this then he had serious problems other than just asking a gal out. "You know those books never work." She said as she extended her arm and handed it to him and then scratched her cheek as the messenger flushed a deeper shade of red and mumbled something like,

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. They always tell you that you can bag anyone if you follow their tips. But... What they don't tell you is that anyone with a brain would simply do things the old fashioned way. Ya know, flowers, candy, dinner and dancing. Or better yet write a poem that lets this person know how much you like and think of them."

Jim got up and frowned for a moment and looked between Lexie and then the book then sighed and set the book down on a nearby shelf and asked, "What if I'm no good at poetry, and dinner and dancing?"

"Well, why not try the unbeatable plan alph-" Lexie said as she put some enthusiasm into her words knowing that it would startle Jim into action while she sat back and waited to see who he was interested in. After all even as much as she kept to herself- she was still a teenager. And teenagers stuck their noses into everything. Besides being a little preoccupied with other people's problems made her feel normal from time to time. So what was the harm? "Talk to the gal and let her know how seriously interested you are in her. Just don't tell her about the book, okay."

Jim blinked at her and started to ask why the woman shouldn't know about the book when she beat him to the punch b saying, "Either she'll think you're painfully shy, difficult to establish relationships with, or so pitiful that she'll give you a sympathy date. And sympathy dates only go to dinner and that's it. There is no second date. There isn't even a kiss or a phone call. Get it?"

The man nodded his head slowly, understanding very well what she meant but was curious to know how she knew all this stuff since she never dated. At least not that he was aware of anyways. "O-Okay. Thanks Lexie." Jim said awkwardly as he picked up the book again and nodded his head towards their princess and started to walk off as the mummies came around the corner while Lexie was getting to her feet.

"Princess?" Nefer-tina said softly as they reached her side, trying to gain her attention. Lexie looked at the older woman as she was asked, "What did the messenger need?"

"Some advice on courting a woman."

"Oh." The three mummies said in unison not really understanding the brief exchange between the messenger and their princess. Why would a man as old as the messenger need advice on courting a woman from a girl? Even if that girl was royalty- it just didn't make sense to them. Such trivial matters were beneath their princess so why had she bothered?

Lexie made a humming sound as she scanned the shelves in front of her for a second then muttered absently, "Right, I need to hook you guys up with some serious reading material." Then started walking again, leaving the three to trail after her again. The next time she stopped it was to grab nine heavy looking books. Each one titled, Ancient History, The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Empires known to Man, The Pharaoh's Tomb, Art, Economics, Five Stare Foods from Across the Globe-

Wait... What? They each wondered as she pulled down another book about food (Southern Cooking) then glanced at them and flushed a little bit as she said, "W-What? These're for Armon."

_Oh. Right._ They had completely forgotten about Armon for the moment.

"I wonder what he's doing right now." Rath said to himself as he tried to imagine what the large oaf was doing. He hoped that he was staying away from the princess's collection.

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Back at Lexie's place-

Armon hid behind the long chair in the princess's sitting room, his heart thudding violently against his ribs as he heard the unmistakable sound of a man saying, "Where did that yellow varmint get off too?"

Whimpering Armon ducked down as low as his large body would allow and held his breath. Normally he wasn't such a scaredy-cat but this was one time he figured he could make an exception. Especially since the person looking for him had strange weapons that he didn't know how to fight against.

"Where oh where has the varmint gone? Oh where oh where can he be?" Came the sing song voice a second before the sound of glass being shattered reached Armon's ears causing him to stiffen a bit. Oh no! Please tell him that the strange man hadn't just broken one of his princess's things!

_Rath, Nefer-tina, Ja-Kal...come back soon! _He thought as he swallowed and shifted his body slightly so that he could peer over the chair and yelped and screamed when he heard a loud **_Bang!_**


End file.
